1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sectional doors and, more particularly to a novel barricade apparatus and method for precluding the inadvertent placement of fingers into the open joint that forms between door sections as the door sections sequentially traverse the curved track between the open and the closed positions.
2. The Prior Art
Sectional doors, also commonly referred to as overhead garage doors or, simply, overhead doors, are well known throughout the world. These particular doors are designated by these names by reason of their design/operation as well as their usage. In particular, sectional doors are designed to provide closure for a large opening such as the ingress/egress to an automotive garage. In order to accommodate closure of such a large opening, the sectional door is assembled from a plurality of horizontally oriented door sections having a length which spans the opening. The door sections are hingedly joined edge to edge to create the door, hence the name, sectional door. The ends of the door sections are supported and the movement thereof directed by tracks which are mounted on each end of the sectional door. The tracks are in a vertical orientation to support the sectional door in its vertical or closed position, and a horizontal orientation to support the sectional door in its open position. A curved section of track accommodates the transition between the vertical and horizontal orientations of the track. The hinged relationship between adjacent door sections allows the sectional door to traverse the curved track between the vertical, closed position to the overhead, open position, hence the alternative name, overhead door. The sectional door is moved between the vertical, closed orientation and the overhead, open configuration with the orientation thereof being controlled by the supportive tracks. Sectional doors are quite heavy so that various systems have been devised to compensate for this weight. Customarily, coil springs under tension provide the necessary weight compensatory force. An electric motor can be used to provide the motive force or the sectional door can be moved manually.
The planar external surface of the sectional door is achieved by forming the adjacent edges of the door sections with an interlocking tongue and groove relationship. The tongue portion is located on the upper edge of the lower door section while the groove portion is located on the lower edge of the upper door section. This particular orientation of the tongue and groove relationship is used throughout the sectional door industry in order not only to provide a more uniform or planar appearance to the closed sectional door but also to reduce the amount of water that would otherwise collect in the groove portion if the tongue and groove relationship were reversed.
The hinges for the adjacent sections of the sectional door are mounted on the interior face of the sectional door. This hinge placement creates a relatively large gap between adjacent door sections as they sequentially traverse the curved track between the open/closed positions. Specifically, it is during the transition from the upper, horizontal, open position to the lower, vertical, closed position that this gap becomes significant in that it gapes open significantly as the lower door section turns to the vertical orientation while the next succeeding door section continues its transition from the horizontal to the vertical orientation. This gap results from the fact that the sectional door is relatively thick and the hinge line between adjacent door sections is mounted on the inner face of the sectional door so that the change in orientation for each planar, door section from the horizontal to the vertical will create a gap between it and the following door section. As can be seen, this gap is relatively large. However, just as importantly, this gap rapidly closes as the two door sections assume the vertical orientation. The relatively wide spacing of this gap coupled with its relatively rapid rate of closure has resulted in serious injury to persons who either deliberately or inadvertently place their fingers in the rapidly closing gap. Deliberate placement of fingers occurs when the person attempts to hasten the closure of the door while inadvertent placement occurs when the person simply is not paying attention. In both instances the results can be quite serious including amputation of the affected fingertips.
Regrettably, thousands of these tragedies have occurred with prior art sectional doors and, until the present inventions, there were no systems that effectively barricaded the gaps in a sectional door as it moved downwardly to the closed position. One company attempted to solve this problem by providing a modified edge system for its sectional doors. This was done by changing the abutting edges of the door sections from a transverse tongue and groove relationship to a slanted edge relationship. The slanted edge removes the conventional ninety degree corner and replaces it with a slanted surface so that a person attempting to grasp the upper edge of the downwardly moving door section will grasp only a slanted surface. Additionally, the bottom edge of the following door section is designed to slidingly push away any fingers that may have been placed on the slanted edge. However, such a sectional door has a distinct disadvantage in that when it is oriented vertically in the closed position each door section rests upon the slanted surface of the next section below. The heavy weight of the sectional door and the slanted surface between adjacent door sections forces the door sections out of their planar alignment rendering a somewhat shiplap-type appearance to the sectional door.
In view of the foregoing it would be a significant advancement in the art to provide a barricade apparatus and method for barricading the gap between door sections particularly during movement of the sectional door to its closed position. It would be an even further advancement in the art to provide a barricade apparatus having sufficient resiliency to preclude injury to fingers inserted behind the barricade. It would also be an advancement in the art to provide a barricade apparatus that could be used to retrofit existing sectional doors. Such a novel barricade apparatus and method for barricading the gap between door sections of a sectional door are disclosed and claimed herein.